Goodman Theatre, Chicago

Nancy S. BishopTheaterJuly 13, 2015Chicago,
“Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” is not a Chekhov parody, but Christopher Durang’s play set in an old farmhouse in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, could have been set in a dacha in the Russian countryside. It retains ...

Victory Gardens Theater, Chicago

Nancy S. BishopTheaterJuly 4, 2015Chicago,
What distinguishes contemporary faith from the traditional? It's often the ability to ask questions, to explore how meanings have changed, while still maintaining respect for its beliefs. That's the question explored in Victory Gardens Theater's new ...

Lookingglass Theatre Company

Nancy S. BishopTheaterJune 23, 2015Chicago,
Lookingglass Theatre’s new production of “Moby Dick” gives a modern infusion of energy and fluidity to Herman Melville’s 19th century whaling tale. The sprawling 700-page novel is smartly encapsulated into a two-and-three-quarter hour play without losing any of ...

Timeline Theatre Chicago

Nancy S. BishopTheaterMay 28, 2015Chicago,
Timeline Theatre Chicago's premiere of “Inana” by Michele Lowe is a ripped-from-the-headlines love story. And it also reminds us that Americans are sometimes the barbarians at the gates. In this case, the gates of an Iraqi museum of cultural artifacts. ...

American Theater Company, Chicago

Nancy S. BishopTheaterMay 19, 2015Chicago,
American Theater Company’s brave new world premiere, “The Project(s),” is a lesson in Chicago history and an explanation of some of its present troubles. Writer/director P.J. Paparelli conceived the play to dramatize the experiences of residents of Chicago’s public housing ...

Goodman Theatre, Chicago

Nancy S. BishopTheaterMay 16, 2015Chicago,
Most people look at Lillian Hellman’s 1939 play, “The Little Foxes,” as a play about a dysfunctional family battling over sex, money and property. You know, the kind that made Steppenwolf Theatre famous. But this one is being staged at ...

Nancy S. BishopTheaterMay 9, 2015Chicago,
Anton Chekhov’s 1900 play “Three Sisters” is considered one of his masterpieces and The Hypocrites do it justice in their fine new production. The play is heartbreakingly sad and yet occasionally funny, with intimations of changes to come in Russia. ...

American Blues Theater

Nancy S. BishopTheaterMay 6, 2015Chicago,
The jazzmen sit on a sofa in a small New York apartment, transfixed by the image on the TV set. It’s September 1956 and Elvis Presley is playing his first gig on the Ed Sullivan Show. The trumpet ...

Exhibition of portraits and paintings of urban life

Nancy S. BishopArt & ArchitectureApril 25, 2015Chicago,
Archibald Motley Jr. was not your average African-American male in 1914. The man who became a world-renowned artist and contributor to the Harlem Renaissance was the son of a Pullman porter and the daughter of a former slave. But in ...

Teatro Vista, Chicago

Nancy S. BishopTheaterApril 24, 2015Chicago,
Family secrets and dreams are explored in Raul Castillo’s “Between You, Me and the Lampshade” in a world premiere being staged by Teatro Vista. Set in a barren area of Rio Grande County in south Texas, the play addresses immigration ...